Tag Archives: Museum

Swakopmund Namibia Museum

Swakopmund Namibia Museum

Swakopmund Namibia Museum

I went to the museum in Swakopmund. It cost me about $3 and I figure that’s about the right price for it. The area it is in is interesting. It’s sits on the beach as you can see. It also sits right in front of the lighthouse, which was also interesting. There were a couple of outdoor cafes next to the museum which seemed to draw a crowd on a Saturday morning. There was also a little kiddie park next to the museum. All-in-all it was something of an active place.

OKC Memorial

OKC Memorial

OKC Memorial

On the morning of April 19, 1995 I was in Houston, TX trying to set up a wide area network between two medical facilities that were in Houston and Oklahoma City. I wasn’t having much success and I couldn’t figure out why. Eventually, someone asked me if I was from Oklahoma city and I said that I was. They told me something was happening on the TV that I should see. It was on that morning that Timothy McVeigh parked a rental truck with explosives in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and at 9:02am, a massive explosion occurred which sheared the entire north side of the building, killing 168 people. I wasn’t even able to get a phone call into my wife. I caught the next plane home. Today, one of the best museums in OKC is the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. It’s worth a trip. 20120425

Coca Museum Cusco Peru

Coca Museum Cusco Peru

Coca Museum Cusco Peru

I went to the Coca Museum. Coca is a big deal in Peru. It is legal to buy and they sell it in lots of locations. I went to the market and saw it available by the pound. They sell it at all the tourist sites and I bought a small bag for $1. I tried it. It gave me some energy and made my mouth a little numb. At the hostels and restaurants they serve coca tea. It’s really good. Coca is a national product in Peru. There are many products that are mode from coca. One, of course, is cocaine. This is where the problems with coca cultivation start to take on a whole new meaning. Note that the vast majority of coca users in Peru have absolutely nothing to do with cocaine. They use the coca leaf in the same way it has been used for thousands of years. The politics of the coca leaf are … interesting.

Close Mondays – Shanghai

Close Mondays - Shanghai

Close Mondays – Shanghai

I went to the Shanghai Museum to try and learn a little something about the history of Shanghai. It seems that it has quite the history. It was a great port, an economic miracle, a place where the British brought opium to China by the boatload and left with tea, silk and other goods. It was a place where violence reigned for decades. It was an Asian Wild West. I would have liked to have gotten a little more information on the city, but the museum was closed. Oh well, another day , perhaps.

Asia 2011 Itinerary

Asia 2011 Itinerary

Asia 2011 Itinerary

Okay, I’m going back to Asia for another two months. You might ask what I’m going to do when I go there. Well, I intend on going to Laos, India, Australia and Bali for starters. Sometime in the next week or two I intend to start booking flights with Air Asia to move me around the Asian continent. I plan on spending a few days here and a few days there and a few days somewhere in between. My goals are to spend some time in about 8-10 different counties while I’m there. If I get to ten, the count may be up to 100 countries that I’ve visited. Here’s hoping… So why do I want to spend time outside of the United States? If you have to ask that question then whatever answer that I give probably wouldn’t satisfy you. But I’ll try – the Pyramids of Egypt, Chichen Itza, Pompeii, Mont St Michel, the Great Wall of China, Petra, the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, St Peter’s Basilica, the Egyptian Museum, Dubrovnik, the Uffizi Gallery, Hong Kong, the Sistine Chapel, Angkor Wat, the Louvre Museum, the Canals of Venice, St Mark’s Basilica, the Kremlin, Chambord Chateau, the Acropolis, Jerusalem and Hagia Sofia. If the mere mention of any of those terms creates a stirring of any kind inside of you then realize that there are some people in whom that stirring is more intense. I’m one of those people. The ticket is paid for. The money is in the bank for the trip. Now I all I have to do is stay alive.

Milwaukee

Milwaukee

Milwaukee

It’s Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Home to Harley-Davidson Motorcycles. It’s also a city on the shores of one of the largest lakes in the world. I’ve passed through several times. I’d love to stop some time and take in the city, especially the Harley-Davidson Museum and the Shotz Brewery. Laverne and Shirley lived there.

Hong Kong Museum of Art

Hong Kong Museum of Art

Hong Kong Museum of Art

I went to see the Hong Kong Museum of Art. I’m a culture buff. Sort of. You wouldn’t want to have me teach an art course anywhere and I cant tell a Ming Vase from a Song Vase, but I do tend to go to the museums. In Hong Kong they have a great museum deal. Pay $4 and get an entrance to seven of their best museums for a week. How’s that for a deal? Plus, all the museums have such clean toilets.

Hong Kong History Kids

Hong Kong History Kids

Hong Kong History Kids

I went to the Hong Kong History Museum and was impressed. Not with the kids, who numbered several hundred, or so it seemed, but with the museum. Okay, the kids were cool, too. The museum gave me what I wanted, to understand the history of Hong Kong. It did that rather well. Maybe too well. You see, the history of Hong Kong started with the colonial period in British history and, in particular, the Opium Wars that Britain had with China. The Opium Wars didn’t appear to be a very complementary episode in British diplomacy and the whole presentation of the museum caused me to question the concept of colonialism in general. Who gave all those countries the right to jump off a boat onto someone else’s shores, plant a flag and lay a claim of sovereignty, anyway?

National Museum of Singapore

National Museum of Singapore

National Museum of Singapore

This is the National Museum of Singapore. It was great. When I went in they gave me am electronic device they referred to as a "companion" that would give me an audio presentation of the exhibits on display. The experience became a fascinating depiction of the history of Singapore. A person could easily spend an afternoon there. I only spent twp or three hours there and missed quite a bit. I’ve saving it for next time.